As the visitor to this site will no doubt notice, I love playing with visual elements to complement or enhance the written materials. When I first started this Web page, however, I was extremely limited in Web space (1 Meg). To work around this, I planned on using mostly small graphics and backgrounds, and play with layout more than with images.
As time passed on, I was able to obtain more server space and I started adding more graphics; I'm afraid I sometimes get a bit carried away. At one point, I even started to play with Java applets to create additional fancy elements, such as a pop-up lexicon. Then I decided it was time I reexamined my policies regarding visuals; here are the results of my cogitations.
The logical conclusion is that if I want to stay true to these principles of software and hardware flexibility, I mustn't load my page with restrictive elements. For this reason, here are my pledges to the viewer:
HTML. I try to stick to HTML 4.0, but I get sloppy and many of my older pages never saw an HTML editor. Let's call it HTML 4.0 Transitional.
XML. As you can guess, if Strict HTML is too much for me, XML is not in the picture right now. I do try to put in the elements for an eventual transition, however.
CSS. I use CSS in all my new pages, but many sections of the site have not been converted or are only partly converted. I test the results in multiple browsers.
CGI. Occasional script, such as page counters and guest books. Always optional.
Frames. Nope. Hate 'em. Not gonna use 'em.
Java. I toyed with it, but backed off because of compatibility issues and also because of the amount of studying I would have to do.
Javascript. Occasionally, usually from canned scripts I saw on somebody else's page and liked. Limited to minor elements and tested in multiple browsers.
The most complex items you should see in these pages are:
If you see pages that look bad on larger screens or in certain browsers, let me know (my e-mail address is on the front page) and I will try to improve the situation.
I always test my pages in at least five browsers: Mozilla, Internet Explorer 6, Opera 6, Netscape 4.79, and Lynx 2.7.1. I strongly support browser variety and competition, because different people have different expectations, different systems, and different Web surfing habits. But I can't pass up this opportunity to praise my favourite browser, Mozilla.
I always use the most recent non-alpha version of Mozilla, which is currently version 1.6. It implements the most recent W3 HTML and CSS standards very gracefully, and has built-in controls for cookies, images, ads, spam, and pop-ups. It is also supported by a very vibrant community of developpers creating add-ons and applications. I'm currently using TagZilla (a tagline manager), Optimoz (adds mouse gesture functionality), Download StatusBar (to monitor and control multiple download unobtrusively), PrefBar (to get access to tools at the click of a button), Tabbed Browsing Extensions (to multiply the browser window's functionality), Flash Click to View (to stop those annoying flash ads), LinkVisitor (to mark blocks of links as visited or unvisited), and Googlebar (emulates the IE Google toolbar), as well as customized skins, icons, and splash screens.
Back in 1996, I started composing Web sites the easy way (just between you and me, I'm very lazy), by using Netscape Composer. There were a number of formatting details that Netscape didn't do to my satisfaction (modifying paragraph styles and tables, for example), so I used a text editor to finish the job (Notepad on my PC, SimpleText on the Mac). In 2002, this was no longer sufficient because there were a number of things I wanted to try, chief of all cascading style sheets (CSS), so I started using 1st Page, a freeware editor from Eversoft. I edit my clickable images using the freeware MapThis!
For those who want to make their own Web pages without touching HTML, Mozilla/Netscape Composer is still the way to go. Its various versions give you pretty good control of the document, though it still tends to replace some or the coding you may have put in because it "knows better". Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access), particularly in the 2000 incarnation and up, also does a good job though the resulting pages are much more difficult to touch up in a text editor afterwards (if you care to do so).
I recently purchased the anniversary edition of PaintShop Pro 7. I had worked before on the version that used to be bundled with Netscape Navigator Gold, so it had changed quite a bit. It turns out to be an absolutely awesome deal. It was particularly good because I bought it when both the manufacturer Jasc and Amazon were giving mail-in rebates, so I got it almost for free. But even without that, I would have considered it an excellent purchase. I highly recommend it. For Web design, I particularly like the image slicer.
Intellectual property rights and copyrights are very important to me, not because I'm afraid to get sued over a gaming page, but because I respect other people's work. I do use a good amount of gaming material without permission, but within the boundaries of "fair use". I try to always give proper credit for the material obtained from other sources, be they text or graphics. When possible, I also try to put a link back to any page from which I obtained material. Should you discover any I have overlooked (or perhaps didn't have the original source information on when I included it), please let me know and I will correct the error.
Conversely, all material not otherwise attributed to external sources on this site is © Copyright Sophie Lagacé and Edmund Metheny, 1996-2004. The text of the story for the play by e-mail (PBeM) games we ran is the property of the specific players involved in any subsection, and us.
